Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

for Ayat
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
17 Apr 2019
🖨️ Print Article
American Muslim chilren
American Muslim chilren

Hey Ayat, we were an odd
couple, haunting the library
for magical books,
deciding how and where
we wanted to work…
Our symbiosis
Your linguistic ticket to
4th grade status—
and my meal ticket

Hey Aayat, forget that
you worked hard
raising your reading
from 1.4
to 4.
Forget how
You sweated in your
Hijab,Cali sun streaming
through the hallway where we worked
Your seat wet with sweat
when I insisted you break for water.
Forget how my eyes welled up when…
When you read the word “chlorophyll”
with
a li’l Arabic seasoning.
Forget our enchanted
moment, our turning point,
finding a book
on your birthplace, your
religion

Hey Ayat, I apologize—
It’s America first and
American Heroes must
Kill
Kids like you in Yemen—
But, “God will sort it out…”
When they get to Heaven.

And one day you’ll understand
Why
American heroes kill for pipe-
lines…

© 2016. Raymond Nat Turner,The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed performing artist and educator, and an official in the National Writers Union.
Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com

poetry

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Interview with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki – Part I
    Ministry of Information Eritrea
    Interview with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki – Part I
    22 Feb 2023
    The president of Eritrea gives a wide ranging interview on the U.S. regime change effort against neighboring nation Ethiopia using the TPLF, and long-standing U.S. hostility towards his country.
  • African American Resistance in the Rural South from the Great Depression to World War II
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    African American Resistance in the Rural South from the Great Depression to World War II
    22 Feb 2023
    Southern farm workers joined in solidarity during the great depression.
  • Canada to Send Navy Ships to Haiti, Trudeau Announces at CARICOM Summit
    Saheli Chowdhury
    Canada to Send Navy Ships to Haiti, Trudeau Announces at CARICOM Summit
    22 Feb 2023
    Canada continues its tradition of interfering in Haiti and subordinating the human rights of its people.
  • USAID: The Humanitarian Face of Colonial Exploitation
    Amanda Yee
    USAID: The Humanitarian Face of Colonial Exploitation
    22 Feb 2023
    The USAID may appear to give a helping hand all over the world, but there are always very dangerous strings attached.
  • Black Agenda Radio February 17, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio February 17, 2023
    17 Feb 2023
    This week we hear about US relations with Nicaragua, and the introductory webinar for the People’s Senate. But first the effort to provide abortion access in Texas, a state which has banned the…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us